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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PCHSW 2025/08/05 (2024-2026) Policy Committee on Health, Safety, and Well-being 3rd Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii August 5, 2025 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Policy Committee on Planning, Safety, and ORDER: Well-being was called to order at 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Chair Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Vice Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member(came in later) Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas,Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individual registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Hannah Preston-Pita: Bill 71 (Comm. 399), in support. (representing Big Island Substance Abuse Council (BISAC) and Hawaii Island Fentanyl Task Force) CHR. ONISHI: Mr. Clerk, can you read in Bill 71. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. Bill 71: AMENDS CHAPTER 6 OF THE HAWAPI COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED) BY ADDING AN ARTICLE, RELATING TO NALOXONE PCHSW-3 August 5,2025 Requires venues licensed to serve alcoholic beverages for in-person consumption to keep Naloxone on premises and ensure that employees are aware of its location and method of administration. Reference: Comm. 399 Intr. by: Council Members Hustace and Inaba Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to recommend passage of Bill 71 on first reading. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. ONISHI: Just to let you folks know, we have Mr. Takase from Liquor and also Stacie (Waltjen) to help in answering any questions. Okay. Go ahead, Chair Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you, Chair Onishi. Good morning. This bill is something that Council Member Hustace and I worked on, and something modeled a little bit after what the City and County of Honolulu passed. And that's to require each bar in our County to have always at least two doses of Naloxone nasal spray, commonly known as Narcan on their premises in a visible and labeled location so that employees have access to it during business hours. Obviously, this is a matter of safety and wellness for our community in making sure that these businesses who are serving alcohol are providing this resource in the event there should be some type of emergency on premises. This would allow a quicker response prior to the arrival of our County EMS (Emergency Medical Services) to the scene. Essentially, you know, there's a lot of cases across our Island with Opioid overdose. This bill also protects any owner, employee, or worker at a bar from being liable, essentially, for administering Narcan to anyone who needs it in a bar. So, any bar who is found to be in violation of this bill would be fined to no more than $500 per day. Narcan right now runs about$50 for a dosage of two, and we think this is a reasonable bill, essentially, to provide safety measures to our constituents and to visitors as well to our island and to those who visit these bars. So, I'll hand it over to Council Member Hustace, and then perhaps we can hear from Director Takase from the Liquor Department. CHR. ONISHI: Mr. Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Council Chair Inaba for your help in cosponsoring this bill bringing this forward for the safety of our communities. Page 2 PCHSW-3 August 5,2025 Then the partnership with the Fentanyl Task Force and many of our community members that have volunteered their time to save lives in our community; provide these resources for the safety and well-being of our community members. This effort mirrors much of what was on the City and County of Honolulu, as Chair Inaba has mentioned. And want to mahalo, Council Member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, for his work there in Honolulu; bringing this forward for them. And we wanted to mirror and provide the safety net for our community here. Council Members on the dais, you're also given some boxes of Naloxone. These are from the Hawaii Fentanyl Task Force for you and your communities and those businesses that makes it important to communities. So, that's just a little olive branch there as part of this effort in supporting our business and providing safety measures in our communities. So, thank you for your support on this and consideration in providing this measure for our communities. So, mahalo nui. MR. INABA: Director Takase, sorry, if I could call on you to say something that we worked on with your department and your Deputy Corporation Counsel. So, if you have anything to share. I know she's not here today. (Note: At this time,Liquor Control Director Gerald Takase came forward to address the members of the Comnuttee.) MS. TAKASE: Thank you Chairman and members of the Council. We have actually been involved with this since 2023. At that time, it was Chairperson Kimball and Council Member Kagiwada that had approached us about doing something similar. I had talked to the Attorney General's Office along with the Department of Health. And they provided us with Narcan doses, which we distributed to all of our bars. And actually, as we did that and our other licensees, which would be the retail and other places, found out that we were distributing at no charge, they asked for it. So, we had probably, I want to say about 90 percent of our licensees actually joined the program. I just did a survey in anticipation about how effective it's been. Of the ones we surveyed, about 80 percent could still locate it, and was still available. I think we've only had about two or three locations that actually used it. So, it's still there,but the supply that we do have is set to expire, I think, by the end of this year. So, it's kindly timely that we reestablish that. I just talked to Mr. Ono with the Department of Health, and they do have doses that they can provide us. I think the other thing we're looking at is trying to provide some kind of wall-mounted container. Because that was the other problem, is that they don't know where they put it, you know. So, if it could be Page 3 PCHSW-3 August 5,2025 put in someplace kind of upward, and it can easily be seen by everyone. That would be helpful. So, we have no problem with that. MR. INABA: Thank you so much, Director. Happy to take any questions from our colleagues and ask for your support. Mahalo. CHR. ONISHL• Council Members? Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yes. Thank you for bringing this forward. I just have one ask, which is when we have the next hearing on this, I had asked during the Budget hearings about the status of the Opioid Settlement Funds coming to us. We are not receiving, as far as I'm aware, the amount that we're supposed to be receiving. So, I would ask if we could have Finance or R&D (Research and Development), who I believe is administering these funds to come briefly and speak to us,because I think that would be source of funds to supply the kits for this program. Thank you. CHR. ONISHL• Ms. Kierkiewicz: MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chair Inaba and Council Member Hustace for bringing this forward. I'm in full support. I know that Council Member Dos Santos-Tam worked really hard on getting this over the finish line for Oahu. And it's great to make this lifesaving measure available, in the event that it's needed. You hope that we don't need it,but it's great that it's there. Director, you shared some really interesting statistics. I was curious about the number of what we are calling bars in this definition. How many bars are in the oversight? MR. TAKASE: So, looking at your definition, there's probably under 200. When we originally went out, we distributed to all dispensers, which is included in what your definitions are,but also included hotels and things. So, everybody that actually served liquor were included. I don't see it as part of yours. But I'll see that they have all been very proactive and wanted to be involved. So, like I said, we went out voluntarily and did it. And we had very good compliance from all of our licensees. Even like I said, stores and things, they wanted to get involved with it as well. So, I think it will be a little different. Honolulu had a lot of problems when they passed it,because there was a lot of resistance. You know every time you force something on somebody; there's always resistance to doing it. Page 4 PCHSW-3 August 5,2025 But I think our approach going out voluntarily allowed them to get involved on their own terms, and they were all happy. So, I'm not saying you've got to change the law,but I think we would really make it available to all our licensees as well. MS. KIERKIWICZ: How many licensees do you have? MR. TAKASE: We have approximately 400. MS. KIERKIWICZ: So, are you saying that this definition that we have here before us may be incomplete, that it doesn't represent the totality of your licensees? MR. TAKASE: No, it doesn't represent all of them. MS. KIERKIWICZ: Okay. Do you have suggestions for how we can sort of— MR. TAKASE: The only big one I see missing is really hotels from that definition. MS. KIERKIWICZ: Okay. Thankfully, it says, "including but not limited to..." Alright. And then the discussion about funding. So, you socialize this idea before this bill was introduced just to get licensees, kind of ma`a to this idea of having Naloxone available on their premises. This was something Naloxone was provided free of charge. MR. TAKASE: Originally, the Department of the Attorney General and the Department of Health approached us. They had the doses, and they needed help distributing them. I think they were always looking at bars as kind of a good place to start with. And that's why they approached us, and we said we would agree to do it. We started to do it. In fact, we completed before Honolulu passed their legislation to do it. So, you know, I'll say that we were the first County in the State to have now provided to all these establishments. And I think it's gone really well. Honolulu, like I said, they had some pushed back from some of them about, "Why are you making us do more things?" But I talked to the Honolulu Director recently, and they said actually, they had no problems since then. I guess they got it in, they didn't have to pay for it; so it was all good. MS. KIERKIWICZ: Okay. So, we had from the Office of the Attorney General, a stock for you to distribute island-wide. When running low or the stock is gone, some of it is set to expire this year. It's not clear to me who is paying for the Naloxone. It sounds like the bars will have to absorb that cost, or is this something that we're looking at. Page 5 PCHSW-3 August 5,2025 MR. TAKASE: So, I just started reaching out to the Department of Health again. And they still have supplies. Like Council Member Kimball was saying, there's a huge Opioid settlement. And I think that's still funding most of this. So, for the foreseeable future, I don't think it would be requirement on the bars to actually have to purchase themselves. Looking at it, if the price remains, we have it at about $30 per pack, if we had to price it,because we could pick up that cost as well. So, I think if we don't have to make the individual bars do it, we'll probably have much better compliance. MS. KIERKIWICZ: You'll get a 100 percent participation if folks don't have to pay for it themselves, especially, if there's money available. So, let's work really hard to make sure that there isn't this financial burden on small businesses. Times are tough. Folks are not going out as much as they used to. MR. TAKASE: So, I wouldn't say that. We'll find other ways to fund it rather than trying to make the—you know,really, it's the small business owners who make the requirement on them. So, it's still a manageable amount. MS. KIERKIWICZ: It's just one more thing to do. Let's make it easy on them. And then, in terms of securing the Naloxone, is it something that they are going to the Fentanyl Task Force for? Liquor Department? I mean we don't want folks to just go off of Amazon to make their purchases, right? Where's the reputable source to acquire? MR. TAKASE: We would work with the nonprofits to provide the supplies to them. I think that would be the easiest, since it's our requirement and we're checking on it. So, I think we will keep it readily available for them. So, if they need more they can just all us. And you know, I have a full-time staff. MS. KIERKIWICZ: The bar or you mentioned the nonprofits. MR. TAKASE: The nonprofits like Kona's Fentanyl Task Force and there's several others. I think there's about two or three groups that the Department of Health identified that are on-island with supplies. So, we will work with them to make sure that everybody is supplied. MS. KIERKIWICZ: Okay, great, That's really helpful. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. ONISHI: Mr. Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Chair, we also have the Mayor's Office here with Ms. Samura here. Ms. Samura, did you want to provide any updates on the settlement at all, or would you like to wait for our future hearing? Sorry,to call you out. Page 6 PCHSW-3 August 5, 2025 (Note: At this time, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Erin Samura came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. SAMURA: Hi, good morning County Council Members. I'm Erin from the Office of the Mayor. I work as his Executive Assistant in the Healthcare pod. So, as far as updates on this settlement, we have received one. One check has come in. We currently have an RFI (Request for Information) out for the use of these funds. As far as purchasing Narcan. It is still being purchased through ADAD (Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division). They are still making a majority of the purchases that come to our County. Our County receives the majority of the Narcan that is being purchased outright through them. For right now, they continue to make those purchases, so that we don't have to use our funding just yet. Funding right now, the largest settlement came in. After this it diminishes quite a lot. And it's just to hold us over for the next, I want to say, 10 to 15 years. But anyway, we have received our first check, and there is an RFI out right now on how to use the funding appropriately. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Sarmira, appreciate that update. And we'll definitely bring you back, as well as R&D for more details as that comes forward, So, thank you for being with us today. Thank you, Chair. CHR. ONISHI: Chair Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. I just want to clarity too, the bill doesn't require the County to provide this,but with the resources available to the Department of Liquor Control through their own budget and in partnership with the nonprofits who are here today and others as well. We do hope, Director, that you folks as it's kind of been shown today,take the lead on making sure that they have that free of cost and for the foreseeable future like you said. I just wanted to make that statement on the record that the bill is not requiring the County in requiring the licensees to go and get those units. So, with that, ask for your support. Thank you so much. Page 7 PCHSW-3 August 5,2025 CHR. ONISHL Okay, any other members? Mr. Clerk,just for the record, Mr. Kdneali'i-Kleinfelder has joined us. Okay, if not, I have at least one comment, which is basically, if members are coming forward with legislation, I hope that you folks can talk to the departments and also with the Administration to find out everything that is going on. So, that way when it comes to whichever Committee, I think a better discussion, and the Council Members will have a better understanding so we can move forward instead of having questions in your mind like funding and who is going to be in charge and so forth. And what about the funding that we get from other places, right, which the Administration has and so forth. But just something to think about. So, other than that, all those in favor of approving Bill 71 and moving it forward to Council on first reading, say "aye." Those opposed? Vote on Bill 71: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 71 on first reading (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kdneali'i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Onishi—7. Noes: None. - Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Villegas—2. Excused: None. CHR. ONISHI: So that ends our Committee. It is 9:22 a.m. Thank you very much. ADJOURN- There being no further business, Chair Onishi adjourned the meeting MENT: at 9:22 a.m. Approved: "al 'hs 17< Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Chair (Date) Policy Committee on Health, Safety, and Well-being DO/dt Page 8